Property owners of Exposition Park have filed a proposal with the city of Dallas to be considered as an Amazon HQ2 location.

Madison Partners LLC put together a group and submitted a proposal on Friday, which was the city's deadline in the fast-paced competition for what Amazon has described will be a $5 billion investment to build offices for as many as 50,000 employees.

Two other properties in the city limits of Dallas have made proposals to City Hall: the former Valley View Mall site in North Dallas and a north Oak Cliff area just south of downtown on the property of the Oak Farms Dairy plant.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said there is "no question" the city will offer incentives to Amazon, but he and others are worried that the state Legislature has become more incentive-averse.

Exposition Park is next to Fair Park, and it's pitching its advantages, which include a DART train stop and fiber connectivity. It also believes an urban infill site has an edge with Amazon versus "the flurry of greenfields they will likely receive," said Jon Hetzel of Madison Partners. Amazon has said it either wants 100 acres of undeveloped property with utility infrastructure in place, or a 500,000-square-foot building with additional development options nearby. The area is currently zoned for 17-story buildings.

In addition to Madison Partners, the Exposition Park group includes Belclaire Cos., Agent Architecture, Deep Ellum Foundation and telecommunications company Vergent.

The area has "optimal fiber connectivity," Hetzel said, with Vergent's main fiber-rich trunk lines running through the property.

"It's five minutes to Lakewood and Deep Ellum, and South Dallas residents can get there without getting on a highway or on DART," he said.

While some may think three weeks of State Fair of Texas traffic may be a negative for the site, Hetzel, who lives in Lakewood, said when he travels to his office in Deep Ellum, he doesn't notice the traffic during that time is any worse than heavy periods downtown or on LBJ Freeway.

Amazon's move into the area could accelerate the positioning of more year-round businesses on the fairgrounds, which some believe would help redevelop the area, he said. Fair Park could also be considered an amenity by a younger workforce that could walk across the street to the State Fair for lunch, he said.

The Exposition Park area just southeast of downtown Dallas is being pitched as an Amazon HQ2 site.

(Madison Partners)

The site also fits into the Texas Department of Transportation's CityMAP report, which studied how to rebuild aging highways around downtown. The report includes building a deck park — similar to Uptown's Klyde Warren Park — over a portion of I-30 in Exposition Park to make the area walkable.

Hetzel said the group owns several buildings in the area and has found ways to fulfill Amazon's requirements while maintaining the historical buildings, some of which are 100 years old. Madison Partners owns several buildings in Exposition Park, Deep Ellum and Lower Greenville. Hetzel is also president of the Deep Ellum Foundation.

This is the cover of a proposal from Madison Partners to the city of Dallas pitching the area just outside Fair Park to Amazon.

(Madison Partners)

Area cities have to submit proposals to the Dallas Regional Chamber by Friday. The regional chamber is putting a bid together for Amazon. The e-commerce giant has set Oct. 19 as a deadline, and cities across the U.S. with populations of at least 1 million people have been scrambling to submit proposals. Amazon has said it will maintain its headquarters in Seattle, which will be spread out over 33 buildings in 8 million square feet when it's completed in 2019.

Amazon HQ2 will house its future growth and will be built over a 10-year period starting in 2019.